Chef&#39;s Caddy

ABSTRACT

An extremely light weight, EPS Styrofoam food carrier. The food carrier has a cover and empty body that form a tightly enclosed container. On the interior base side of the body imprints plurality of interconnecting grooves extending up onto the wall, forming air circulation pathways, allowing more uniform temperature inside the food carrier.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

The present application relates to a food carrier, and more particularlyto polystyrene foam molded food carrier for maintaining food temperatureduring transport.

Note that the points discussed below may reflect the hindsight gainedfrom the disclosed inventions, and are not necessarily admitted to beprior art.

How to keep freshly cooked food temperature during transportation is aconcern for many people who bring lunch to work, for restaurant businesswho want to deliver food to customer as freshly cooked as possible. Manystyles of food carriers have been invented. Some are with complicatedstructures, some are for special types of food.

For example US Patent Application US 2010/0200455 A1 discloses a carrierbag comprising a primary holder that has a secondary holder which hasplurality of chambers. The carrier bag and its secondary holders aredouble-walled and comprise an insulating layer between the walls.

US Patent Application US 2010/0200583 A1 describes a container having abase for supporting a pie, cake, cupcakes, or other baked goods. Acollapsible cover of flexible material is configured to be attached tothe base to generally enclose the carrier, protecting the baked goodsfor transport or storage.

Because of the great need in keeping freshly cooked food as fresh aspossible, complicated mechanisms are adopted for food transportation.For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,716,083 B1 describes a complicated foodcarrier structure comprises a body having an interior compartment, anexterior and an opening, a sealing mechanism disposed around theopening; a door that covers the opening is configured to seal againstsaid sealing means when a partial vacuum or pressure is created in theinterior compartment; a passageway is configured to connect the interiorand the exterior with a valve on the passageway; and a dish isconfigured to fit within the interior compartment. This food carrier hasa goal of maintaining food temperature two hours or more.

The preferred material for this invention is high-density hard shell,non-toxic insulating foam TEEK, a novel polyimide, non-toxic foamdeveloped by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)Langley Research Center.

However, these food carriers are expensive either in material cost or inmanufacturing because generally multiple steps of manufacturingprocesses are required. A light weight, easy to manufacture food carrieris therefore needed.

SUMMARY

The present application discloses a novel food carrier for freshlycooked food storage and transportation using the highly moldable,thermal insulating extendable polystyrene (EPS) foam.

In one embodiment, the chef's caddy is molded using EPS material,including a body and a matching removable cover having an optionalimprint of the trade name of a food service business.

In one aspect of an example embodiment, the body and the cover form asealed compartment having plurality of chambers, between chambers areairflow grooves interconnecting and going up the sides and the top,allowing for air circulation throughout inside the compartment for moreuniform temperature maintaining.

In another aspect of an example embodiment, the body forms a pair offinger grove on the exterior sides for easy carry and moving thecontainer.

In another aspect of an example embodiment, the body includes tall sidewalls and the interior chambers are formed by shallow recessing grooves,thereby forming a spacious housing for containing quarter, third, halfand full pans.

The disclosed innovation facilitates delivery of a wide variety of foodpreparations including, broiled, steamed, poached, sauteed, fricasseed,grilled, BBQ, stewed, braised, and roasted. The highly light weight andeasy process in manufacturing dramatically reduces the labor cost infood transportation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosed invention will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, which show important sample embodiments of theinvention and which are incorporated in the specification hereof byreference, wherein:

FIG. 1A shows a prospective view of the cover of an example chef's caddyin accordance to this application.

FIG. 1B shows a prospective view of the body of an example chef's caddyin accordance to this application.

FIG. 2A shows a plan view of the outside surface of the cover of anexample chef's caddy in accordance to this application.

FIG. 2B shows a plan view of the inside surface of the cover of anexample chef's caddy in accordance to this application.

FIG. 2C shows a front view of the side surface of the cover of anexample chef's caddy in accordance to this application.

FIG. 2D shows a section view along line A of the cover of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3A shows a plan view of the container body of an example chef'scaddy in accordance to this application.

FIG. 3B shows a section view along line B of the container body of FIG.3A.

FIG. 3C shows a front view of non-carry side surface of the containerbody of an example chef's caddy in accordance to this application.

FIG. 3D shows a section view along line A of the container body of FIG.3A.

FIG. 3E shows a front view of carry side surface of the container bodyof an example chef's caddy in accordance to this application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The numerous innovative teachings of the present application will bedescribed with particular reference to presently preferred embodiments(by way of example, and not of limitation). The present applicationdescribes several embodiments, and none of the statements below shouldbe taken as limiting the claims generally.

For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figuresillustrate the general manner of construction, and description anddetails of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in thedrawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, some areas orelements may be expanded to help improve understanding of embodiments ofthe invention.

The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in thedescription and the claims, if any, may be used for distinguishingbetween similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particularsequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the termsso used are interchangeable. Furthermore, the terms “comprise,”“include,” “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to covernon-exclusive inclusions, such that a process, method, article,apparatus, or composition that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elementsnot expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article,apparatus, or composition.

It is contemplated and intended that the design apply to all sizes; forclarity reason, the examples are given based on a food carrier tocontain a full pan in a restaurant, but an ordinary person in the artwould know the variations to modify the design to apply to other sizes,shapes, and logos.

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a rigid, tough, closed-cell foam, and agood thermal insulator that has been used as food container material,such as coffee cups, fast food boxes etc. Based on scientific tests overfive decades, government safety agencies have determined thatpolystyrene is safe for use in foodservice products. For example,polystyrene meets the stringent standards of the U.S. Food and DrugAdministration and the European Commission/European Food SafetyAuthority for use in packaging to store and serve food. Also the HongKong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department recently reviewed thesafety of serving various foods in polystyrene foodservice products andreached the same conclusion as the U.S. FDA.

EPS Styrofoam is ideal for making food carrier because of its excellentthermo-insulation feature as well as light weight. It can be easilymolded, making the manufacturing process simple.

In reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a simple rectangular chef's caddy 100made of EPS Styrofoam is shown. It includes two separate components, arectangular cover 101 and a rectangular body portion 107. An optionalbut perhaps important feature of cover 101 is that it may have a tradename and logo 103 of a business be molded on the exterior surface.

Body portion 107 includes side walls 109 and base 113. The sides forcarrying are embodied with finger groves 111. Cover 101 may also embodymatching shapes 105 to the finger groves to tightly fit with the bodyportion, forming a sealed compartment for carrying food.

In reference to FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D, an example structure of thecover is shown. On the exterior top surface, trade name 201 and its logomay be imprinted. For the interior surface of the cover, recesses onedge 203, shown as 207 in FIG. 2D, are made in either side, forming arecessed area 205 in the middle for inside air circulation. Protrudingedge 207 tightly fit into the body portion, keeping air inside the caddyinsulated from the exterior air, thus maintaining the temperature of anyfood contained.

In reference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D and 3E, an example structure of thebody portion is shown. The body simply includes enclosing side walls 313and a base 311 that are thick and strong enough to carry stack ofseveral pans of food. The two carry sides embody finger groves 309 forholding the caddy. Depending on the designated capacity, the height ofwall 313 may be adjusted in a specific design accordingly, with tallerfor larger capacity.

On base 311, interconnecting grooves 301, of sufficient depth extend tothe side walls as shown as 305 in FIG. 3D and connect to recess area ofthe top cover when the cover is disposed on the body portion. Theseinterconnecting grooves form air circulation pathways, allowing aircirculation throughout the inside for uniform inside temperature.

This simple design can be manufactured by simple molding using liquefiedEPS material in one step.

This simple food carrier can keep food temperature loss/gain at a ratecomparable or better to other, more complicated and high cost foodcarrier designs. For the preferred embodiment described, the temperaturegain/loss is around 5 Fahrenheit degrees per hour.

As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the innovativeconcepts described in the present application can be modified and variedover a tremendous range of applications, and accordingly the scope ofpatented subject matter is not limited by any of the specific exemplaryteachings given. It is intended to embrace all such alternatives,modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scopeof the appended claims.

None of the description in the present application should be read asimplying that any particular element, step, or function is an essentialelement which must be included in the claim scope: THE SCOPE OF PATENTEDSUBJECT MATTER IS DEFINED ONLY BY THE ALLOWED CLAIMS. Moreover, none ofthese claims are intended to invoke paragraph six of 35 USC section 112unless the exact words “means for” are followed by a participle.

The claims as filed are intended to be as comprehensive as possible, andNO subject matter is intentionally relinquished, dedicated, orabandoned.

1. A food carrier made by molding, comprising: cover having aperipherally raised strip; and a body having a base side and anenclosing wall, with sufficient thickness and strength for carryingspecified amount of food, forming a housing with an aperture, wherein aplurality of interconnecting grooves are molded on said base side insidesaid housing, and said strip of the cover removably fits into theaperture, thereby sealing the aperture and forming an enclosure, andsaid body being made of expandable polystyrene Styrofoam.
 2. The foodcarrier of claim 1, wherein said cover includes a trade name and/orlogo.
 3. The food carrier of claim 1, wherein said body furthercomprises a pair of finger groves outside said housing on said wall. 4.The food carrier of claim 1 is rectangular in shape and is capable ofenclosing a full size pan.
 5. The food carrier of claim 1 is in circularshape.
 6. The food carrier of claim 1 is made by molding in one step. 7.The food carrier of claim 1, wherein said grooves extend sufficiently uponto the wall, forming air circulation pathways.
 8. The food carrier ofclaim 1, wherein said cover includes a central recess area nearing saidraised strip.
 9. The food carrier of claim 1 has an interior temperaturechange of less than five Fahrenheit degrees per hour.